U.S. Athletes Making a Statement

[Speedfirst]

Based on several performances by U.S. athletes on yesterday, I say the gauntlet has been dropped for Worlds.

[croflash]

What's the difference to last year ? The overall quality has been impressive, but that has been the case a year ago as well.

[gh]

The difference is that this year Gay will finish close enough behind Bolt he'll be able to read his bib number :-)

[Speedfirst]

What's the difference to last year ? The overall quality has been impressive, but that has been the case a year ago as well.

You can hate all you want to. You know what I'm referring to, all the talk about the U.S. sprinters from the Olympics.

You look back at Reeboks from last year, not the same as this year, I'm saying across the board. Again folks acted like and commented after the Olympics, as if the U.S. sprinters fell off the face of the earth.

[Dave]

What's the difference to last year ? The overall quality has been impressive, but that has been the case a year ago as well.

You can hate all you want to. You know what I'm referring to, all the talk about the U.S. sprinters from the Olympics.

You look back at Reeboks from last year, not the same as this year, I'm saying across the board. Again folks acted like and commented after the Olympics, as if the U.S. sprinters fell off the face of the earth.

Not having an OT that injures so many athletes may help this year.

[Speedfirst]

We know the backlash the U.S. sprinters heard and are still hearing, so we know that is some motivation for them. Worlds is always a means of motivation also.

Sure OT is a major component, but again worlds is this year, as well as the U.S. Nationals. The athletes know they need to be at the top of their game come the biggest meet.

[croflash]

What's the difference to last year ? The overall quality has been impressive, but that has been the case a year ago as well.

You can hate all you want to. You know what I'm referring to, all the talk about the U.S. sprinters from the Olympics.

You look back at Reeboks from last year, not the same as this year, I'm saying across the board. Again folks acted like and commented after the Olympics, as if the U.S. sprinters fell off the face of the earth.

You are talking to the wrong guy, I'm not hating. In fact, I defended the US team after the Olympics despite not meeting the expectations. They still finished first in the medal and placing table, it appeared to be disappointing to a lot of people because of the performances before the Olympics. Tyson Gay happened to be injured and the relays fumbled away the baton, the long jumps were a disaster. Other than that, it was simply the Jamaicans performing at a level nobody could foresee when the season started. Surprising victories and medals were almost eclipsed by the focus on the sprint "failures".

Overall, the US team could have performed better for sure, but this topic hasn't been beaten to death on this forum. It's been beaten to death only to reanimate it time and time again and it doesn't look like it will die until the World Championships have taken place. What happened in New York yesterday will not let me draw conclusions for the rest of the season or the outcome in Berlin.

[Half Miler]

Re: U.S. Athletes Making a Statement

U.S. Athletes Making a Statement

Based on several performances by U.S. athletes on yesterday, I say the gauntlet has been dropped for Worlds.

I may be in the minority here, but I think the whole idea of "making a statement" is bogus. With a few exceptions, I think most T&F athletes at this point in the season are gauging where their training is at. They want to win and run fast, of course. But I really doubt that many runners (eg., Gay) are thinking, "I want to pysch out Bolt," or some such thing.

Worth noting that the media hypes this up as well. Yesterday, even my wife (who pays no attention to T&F) was complaining about the way Bob Neumeier was prodding Gay ("so, were you trying to send a message to Usain Bolt?"). Tyson, of course, wouldn't take the bait, because he simply doesn't feel that way.

[Speedfirst]

What's the difference to last year ? The overall quality has been impressive, but that has been the case a year ago as well.

You can hate all you want to. You know what I'm referring to, all the talk about the U.S. sprinters from the Olympics.

You look back at Reeboks from last year, not the same as this year, I'm saying across the board. Again folks acted like and commented after the Olympics, as if the U.S. sprinters fell off the face of the earth.

You are talking to the wrong guy, I'm not hating. In fact, I defended the US team after the Olympics despite not meeting the expectations. They still finished first in the medal and placing table, it appeared to be disappointing to a lot of people because of the performances before the Olympics. Tyson Gay happened to be injured and the relays fumbled away the baton, the long jumps were a disaster. Other than that, it was simply the Jamaicans performing at a level nobody could foresee when the season started. Surprising victories and medals were almost eclipsed by the focus on the sprint "failures".

Overall, the US team could have performed better for sure, but this topic hasn't been beaten to death on this forum. It's been beaten to death only to reanimate it time and time again and it doesn't look like it will die until the World Championships have taken place. What happened in New York yesterday will not let me draw conclusions for the rest of the season or the outcome in Berlin.

Maybe hating was harsh on my part, I'm not saying based upon yesterdays peformance that the U.S. will dominate Worlds. What I am stating is what I stated, the U.S. dropped the gauntlet yesterday, put some folks on notice, this year won't be a duplication of the Olympics.

[Speedfirst]

Whether or not an athlete is attempting to make a statement or not, their performance will determine that.

How someone else, another athlete or otherwise intreprets that is another story.

Anyone would be naive to think that other competing athletes didn't notice what the U.S. athletes did on yesterday. For one that does get your attention, with the thought that it is still early and two, some impressive times were dropped already.

[frontrunner]

Got to give it to the Empire. They kicked the J'can's arse (good enough for Chaucher so do not edit) yesterday.

The Empire's efforts was even more impressive because Jamaica had the home field advantage.

But the proof of the pudding is in Berlin.

One love.

[BCBaroo]

All nit-picking aside. I have been impressed by our (US) sprinters thus far.

08 was in incredible year by the Jamaicans (and they may very well repeat or outdo so at Berlin)... but no matter what, I just don't think they can be as deep as US (like 25+ depth). So if any Jamaicans struggle there can be some USA-nians to step up. I mean, was anyone talking about Rodgers as a medal hopeful before this season began? As was stated on a separate thread, he has to at least be in the conversation now.

A simultaneous question is: Did the Jamaicans get big headed after Beijing while the Americans dug down deeper? Just a question, not an accusation, after all, this season has just begun.

[Speedfirst]

Got to give it to the Empire. They kicked the J'can's arse (good enough for Chaucher so do not edit) yesterday.

The Empire's efforts was even more impressive because Jamaica had the home field advantage.

But the proof of the pudding is in Berlin.

One love.

Obviously you have read into this thread ( my comments) whatever it is you wanted to.

Why would you take it personal, as if what happened yesterday had anything at all to do with Jamaica?

Was there a dual meet yesterday between the U.S. and Jamaica that only you were aware of? Remember when you still do a medal count from Beijing, the U.S. still came out on top

[Half Miler]

Whether or not an athlete is attempting to make a statement or not, their performance will determine that.

How someone else, another athlete or otherwise intreprets that is another story.

This is exactly my point. It seemed that you were conferring "intent" on the part of the athlete, which I think, for the most part, is not there. Apologies if that was not your intent.

[Speedfirst]

Whether or not an athlete is attempting to make a statement or not, their performance will determine that.

How someone else, another athlete or otherwise intreprets that is another story.

This is exactly my point. It seemed that you were conferring "intent" on the part of the athlete, which I think, for the most part, is not there. Apologies if that was not your intent.

No conferring on my part, of course we do know some athletes attempt to make a statement based upon their performance. However the point of the thread was to simply point out what the U.S. athletes ( in general) were able to produce on yesterday and in my opinion was a statement performance. 8-)